What's Our Story?

Our adoption story started five years ago. It was New Years Eve. I (Brooke) landed in Uganda for the first time on a short term mission trip. I was terrified and so excited as the crowded, tired, and smelly plane finally arrived after 48 hours of travel.  From the moment I stepped onto the open-air tarmac, I felt a giant wave of peace "roll" over me. I breathed in a smell that would soon be familiar and make me feel at home every time I stepped off that plane for several years to come. We drove for a couple hours to a children's home in Jinja where I met our sponsor child (Eldrine) for the first time. This is where my love for the least of these first found a home in my heart. 

Zach says that I came home different. I was emotional, had zero desire to continue college (although this desire came back), and just wanted to be back in Africa with people who I missed so wholeheartedly. Zach noticed it before he even saw me in the airport upon my arrival home. I would never be the same emotionally. My aspirations, dreams, and hopes for the future had all changed. 

Specifically, I felt the burden to adopt and answer James 1:27's call to care for the orphan. I prayed for quite awhile before my initial trip to Uganda that Zach would somehow feel the same love for Africa and go back with me. He says now that he saw the light and love in me when I returned and wanted to feel it too. 

I returned twice more on my own and we went together three additional times over the next five years. God answered my cry and lit the fire within Zach as well... He was calling Zach to fight for the life of the orphan along side me. If I must say so myself, the sparkle in Zach's eyes was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen! He was made for this! Our love solidified even further. It was on this trip that I first saw the desire in Zach to be an adoptive father one day in the future.

In July 2012, Zach proposed the night before we left for his second trip. We decided that together we were going to spend as much of our lives as possible defending the fatherless and sharing our love for Jesus while doing so. In June 2013, we spent our honeymoon in Uganda for one month serving several different ministries. While there for a month, we started the adoption process. Towards the end of our time, we found out that we were unexpectedly pregnant and could not continue the adoption process. This was very bittersweet for us. Our hearts were set on bringing a child home sooner rather than later. At the time, it was hard to see what God had planned for us in terms of coming back to Uganda and starting up our adoption again. Yet at the same time we couldn't believe a baby was growing inside me...a precious gift from above! We came home confused and a little scared. However, we clung to God's promises...his plans are FAR greater than our own and that he will prosper not harm us.  We had sweet little Delaney Mae Wall, the breath of our life, 10 months ago. She is cuter than we could have ever imagined! Being parents is the most precious and difficult gift. We are completely head-over-heels in love and can't imagine life any other way! We feel that there is nothing greater on this Earth than being a mommy and a daddy.

The desire to bring home a child from Uganda never left our hearts through my pregnancy and the first 10 months of little Delaney's life. We had much heartbreak being so disconnected and asked God to reveal to us what he wanted next for our little family of three in his perfect timing. In January 2015 we finally felt him nudging us in the direction in which we needed to just say "yes" to his call on our life. 

We are in the final steps of the adoption process of a little boy in Uganda! He is adorable and perfect in every way! We are actually his legal guardians, just waiting for his visa to be issued so that he can enter the USA! We are quickly learning that God's heart for adoption is GIANT. We feel blessed to have been adopted by Jesus into his heart and his family when we were born again and humbled that we get to turn around and do the same for a sweet little boy!

We want to invite you to be a part of our adoption story through prayer and financial partnership. We know that not every family is called to adopt, but we are ALL called to care for the orphan and helping one find his forever family is a wonderful way to do so. We are eternally grateful for our family, friends, and the body of Christ that continues to rally around us as we grow our family through adoption. We could not do this without your love, prayers, and support! It truly takes a village! 

Zach, Brooke, Delaney, & "M"